26-year-old Derby County star is ‘battling’ to be fit for Shrewsbury Town this weekend
One Derby County star is facing a race against time to be fit for this weekend.
Derby County have a number of injury concerns going into the League One clash with Shrewsbury Town, with their frontline in particular looking a little short
Martyn Waghorn and Conor Washington remain as long-term absentees, while Tyreece John-Jules recently returned to the sidelines for the second time since joining the club on loan.
Nathaniel Mendez-Laing looks set for a spell out after being forced off against Charlton Athletic, while there was a lot of uncertainty around the fitness of Corey Blackett-Taylor too.
The winger joined Derby on loan last month and had been made available to face his parent club last time out, however he was left out of the match-day squad all together.
Fans were left baffled by his omission, but Paul Warne went onto explain that he had been left out due to a slight injury.
The manager did admit that he wouldn’t have played Blackett-Taylor anyway though, saying: “Weirdly, I had no intention of playing him here because I just didn’t think he’d have a good game after just joining us from Charlton.
“I thought it may become too much, so we didn’t rush anything this week and hopefully he will join back in with the group next week.”
Blackett-Taylor could well have been handed an opportunity in the starting line-up against Shrewsbury though, if Mendez-Laing wasn’t fit.
However, Derbyshire Live have now claimed that the 26-year-old is ‘battling’ to be fit for the clash.
Journalist Leigh Curtis wrote: “The new signing missed the trip to his former club Charlton at the weekend which sparked a few conspiracy theories, but the truth is that Blackett-Taylor picked up a slight adductor injury at the start of last week in training. He is now battling to be fit for this weekend’s visit of the Shrews.”
